Wall of Light Black

Date

1998

Creator

The green and misty Irish landscape is practically a national symbol. Sean Scully, who was born in Dublin, is intrigued by the atmosphere of this island landscape, by the way light peeks in and out of perception, and how this quality might relate to the Irish people. The light has a peculiar and melancholic quality, what the late poet Robert Duncan called "a light wet with doubt." ...While many artists seek to bring light out of dark, Scully seems intent on bringing darkness to light, as if he were revealing a deep inner secret. His Wall of Light paintings are not illustrative of a particular wall but are virtually analogous to the building of one. Color is applied in various bricklike configurations that must fit together in order to create a compact overall field--one that is not too perfect. Scully's blocks of color, at their best, have the naturalness of stones. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)